International Perspectives on Language Education

Friday, February 24, 2012

Hold the phone: Globalization, call centers and English teacher preparation in Costa Rica

Janet Blackwood, Ph.D. Candidate

Over the last thirty years, globalization has significantly altered the employment landscape in the developing world. One example of this can be seen in the recent establishment of numerous call centers in various locations in Central America. Research is currently lacking on the implications of this new job market for the English teaching profession. Using data collected through interviews with Costa Rican university English professors and students, this presentation provides preliminary evidence on the unexpected consequences of the arrival of call centers on English language teaching and teacher preparation in Costa Rica, and raises questions regarding possible long-term effects.

See the PowerPoint Presentation >>

Viewer Reactions to the Film Waiting for "Superman"

Christy Wessel Powell, Ph.D. Student

The documentary film about US education reform Waiting for “Superman” was met with acclaim and controversy when it was released to theaters in fall 2010, and again when it launched its grassroots ‘host a screening’ campaign in spring 2011. By performing discourse analysis on survey responses and interview data, this research examines viewer reactions to the film when it was screened on a university campus in a Midwest community. This research also situates viewer reactions within the political climate surrounding ‘hot topic’ issues in US education reform, with practical implications for teacher education.

Watch the Prezi Presentation >>

Promoting Social-Constructivist pedagogy through teacher educators’ use of WebQuest lessons in teaching EFL pre-service teachers in Macedonia: An exploratory study

Emilija Zlatkovska, Ph.D.

Using critical ethnography (Carspecken, 1996) by employing classroom observations, interviews and survey data collection, this study explored how the introduction of WebQuest lessons, i.e. specific web and inquiry-based lessons impacted the teaching styles of English as a Foreign language (EFL) teacher educators as part of the teacher training curriculum at a Macedonian university. The process of integrating technology into the teaching of pre-service teachers was also investigated, allowing the researcher to also explore the teacher educators’ re-conceptualization of social constructivism in EFL teaching through their use of WebQuest lessons in their classroom.

See the PowerPoint Presentation >>

24th SLED Symposium Team

• Linda Coggin
• Vesna Dimitrieska
• Yi Chin Hsieh
• Hsiao-Chun Huang
• G Yeon Park
• Amber Warren
• Pei-Shan Yu
• Jaehan Park (Organizing Committee Chair)